Method of lining containers



Feb. 26, 1946. w. B. FORD METHOD OF LINING CONTAINERS Filed April 25,1941 IN VENTOR. MM 16 63% Patented Feb. 26, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE METHOD or LINING CONTAINERS Wellman B. Ford, Hastings on Hudson,N. Y. Application April 25, 1941', Serial No. 390,353

4 Claims.

My invention relates to an improved method of lining containers, andmore particularly the ends or heads 'of substantially cylindrical ,con-

tainers, with cement or concrete or similar plastic substances whichhave the property of setting or hardening. v

It has been found that a lining of this type prevents corrosion and rustof an ordinary black iron tank, even though the cement or concretelining, being somewhat porous, does not prevent spreading cement orconcrete thereon by means of a trowelor the like before the heads aresecured to the cylindrical portion of the tank. This not only is a timeconsuming and expensive procedure, and prevents the use of standardfully assembled tanks, but in addition the lining is apt to becomeloosened and crack when the head is welded to the remainder of the tank.

.In accordance with my invention the heads of a completely assembledtank may be smoothly lined with cement or concrete by placing the tankin a vertical position with a suitable quantity of cement or concretemix in plastic form within the tank, and then rotating the tank at asuitable speed to distribute the cement orconcrete over the head. Ihave, determined that it is only necessary to continue this rotationuntil the cement or concrete has obtained its initial set. Thereafter,the rotation may be stopped and the lining of the head will remain inplace and may be permitted to obtain its permanent set.

' For carrying out my invention I have provided an apparatus forrotating a tank which is so arranged that a tank may be quickly andeasily placed in position thereon and removed therefrom without it evenbeing necessary to stop the operation of the device. Preferably,provision is made for rotating a plurality of tanks at the same time.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from thefollowing description, consideredin connection with the accompanyingdrawing which forms a portion of this specification, and of which;

Fig. 1 is a side view, partially in cross-section of a preferredapparatus for carrying out my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig.1; and

-- Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on the line 3-3 ofFig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, reference character. It) designates a base orsupport which conveniently may be in the form of a U-shaped channelhaving a web II and flanges l2. This channel may be made of wood ormetal. Supported within the channel by means of bearings l3 secured tothe underside of the web II is a drive shaft ll, which may be rotated inany suitable manner, as by means of a chain drive engaging the sprocketl5. Preferably, means are provided for varying the speed of rotation -ofshaft l4, such as a variable speed motor. Secured to the shaft It atsuitably spaced intervals is a plurality of bevelled gears 16. Thesegears mesh with similar bevelled gears l1 secured tothe lower ends ofshafts I8 which are supported in thrust bearings I9 carried by the webll. Secured to the upper end of each shaft I8 is a socket 20 having arounded or conical recess in the upper end thereof.

Reference character 2| designates a suitable support, such as a verticalwall, to which are secured a plurality of frames 22 by means of pairs ofhinges 23. Each frame 22 includes parallel arms 24 connected by means ofa cross-piece 25. Mounted in each cross-piece is a ball bearing or thelike 26 which carries a stub shaft 21, the lower end of which ispreferably tapered, as is shown at 28. A stop member 29 is secured toone or both of the arms 24 and is adapted to contact the wall 2| so asto prevent the bracket 22 from pivoting downwardly to a verticalposition,

The brackets 25 are so dimensioned and positioned that, when eachbracket is in a substantially horizontal position, the shaft 21 thereofis in axial alignment with the respective shaft I8 in the base l0.Reference character 30 designates a tank or other container which is tobe lined with concrete. The tank includes a substantially, cylindricalportion 3| to either end of which are secured heads 32 and 32. As is theusual practice, these heads are somewhat dished so as to. betterwithstand the internal fluid pressure'to which the tank is subjectedwhen in use. The tanks illustrated in the drawing are of the typecommonly employed in connection with domestic hot water systems and areprovided with suitable pipe connections 33 in the sides of thecylindrical portions and similar connections 34 and 34' lo cated at thecenters of the ends or heads 32 and 32, respectively.

Before placing a tank in the position shown in Fig. 1, a short length ofthreaded pipe or the like 35 is screwed into the connection 34'. As isshown more particularly in Fig. 2 the threads have been removed from theinner end of pipe 35 so that this end will project somewhat beyond theinner surface of the head 32'. Moreover, the bore of the pipe 35 isplugged with any suitable material. such as concrete 36. Obviously, ifdesired, a solid rod could replace the plugged pipe.

After the pipe 35 has been screwed into the connection 34, a suitablequantity of cement or concrete in plastic form is introduced into thetank, preferably through one of the openings 33. The quantity should besuflicient to provide a lining of the desired thickness covering one endof the tank and may be determined readily either through experience orcalculation. Obviously, the greater the area at the end of the tank, themore, the concrete will be required to provide a lining of giventhickness. Thereafter, the tank is placed in a vertical position withthe lower end of the pipe 35 received in the recess in socket 20. Thecorresponding bracket 24 is pivoted upwardly a suflicient distance andthen downwardly so that the shaft 21 thereof may be introduced into theconnection 34 so as to maintain the shaft 21 in engagement with theopening in the tank. Due to the fact that the shaft is provided with atapered end 28 it may snugly engage openings of different sizes. Withthe tank in this position, and before rotation has commenced, the cementor concrete will occupy the position as shown at III in the right-handtank in Fig. 1.

The weight of the tank is sufllcient to provide a frictional connectionbetween the pipe 35 and the shaft l8, whereby the tank will be rotated.This rotation causes the cement or ccncrete mix within the tank to bedistributed, under the influence of centrifugal force, smoothly over theinner surface of the head 32', as is shown at II in the center tank ofFig. 1. The speed required for this distribution depends upon theconsistency of the mix and the amount the head is dished. However, Ihave found that with a tank having an ellipsoidal head, a speed of about60 R. P. M. gives very satisfactory results. The rotation of the tank inthis manner should be continued until the concrete receives its initialset. This depends on various factors, such as the ingredients of themix, and the temperature. Quick setting cements are available whichreceive their initial set within a very few minutes, but arecomparatively expensive. Ordinary cements require from threequarters ofan hour in hot weather to several hours at lower temperatures to obtainthe initial set. Thereafter the tank may be removed from the device, butit is advisable to handle it carefully so as to avoid jarring. The innerend of pipe 35 extends inwardly a distance greater than the thickness oflining ll. The pipe is preferably removed before the cement or concretereceives its permanent set, thereby leaving an opening in the-lining inalignment with the connection 34'.

The tank may be placed in either a vertical or a horizontal positionuntil the lining has received its permanent set. Thereafter, the pipe 35is screwed into the connection 34 in the other end of the tank and theabove described process repeated so as to line this end. This other end.

should not be lined until the previously applied lining has received itspermanent set, inasmuch as the slight jarring to which the tank may besubjected while being rotated would be apt to dislodge the lining fromthe upper end of the tank,

Due to the relatively low speed of rotation and embodiment of myinvention, it is to be underthe fact that there is only a frictionalconnection between the shaft l8 and the pipe 35, a tank may be placed inposition or removed from the apparatus without it being necessary tostop the shaft.

After both ends have been lined, the cylindrical portion 3| may be linedby placing a suitable quantity of cement or concrete mix within the tankand rotating the latter about a horizontal axis. However, this does notconstitute any part of my present invention.

While I have described oneJnore or less specific stood that this hasbeen done for the purpose of illustration only and that the scope of myinvention is not to be limited thereto, but is to be defined by theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. That improvement in the art of lining the inner concave end of asubstantially cylindrical container with a plastic hardenable substance,the end having an aperture therethrough, which includes closing saidaperture, supporting the container in a vertical position with the endto be lined at the bottom, introducing a sufiicient quantity of saidsubstance in plastic form into said container to provide a. lining ofsubstantial thickness, rotatingsaid container about a vertical axis at aspeed determined by the consistency of said substance and the conicityof said end to distribute the substance over the concave surface of theend of the container to form a lining of substantially uniformthickness, continuing said rotation until the substance has received aninitial set, and opening said aperture before the substance receives apermanent set to thereby provide an opening through said lining inalignment with said aperture. 7

2. That improvement in the art of lining the inner concave end of asubstantially cylindrical container with a plastic hardenable substance,the end having an aperture therethrough, which includes introducing aplug into said aperture 2. sufficient distance to extend inwardly beyondthe lining, supporting the container in a vertical position with the endto be lined at the bottom, introducing a suflicient quantity of saidsubstance in plastic form into said container to provide a lining ofsubstantial thickness, rotating said container about a vertical axis ata speed determined by the consistency of said substance and the conicityof said head to distribute the substance over the concavesurface of theend of the container to form a lining of substantially uniformthickness, continuing said rotation until the substance has receivedan'initial set, and removing said plug before the substance receives apermanent set to thereby provide an opening through said lining' inalignment with said aperture.

3. That improvement in the art of lining the inner concave end of asubstantially cylindrical container with a plastic hardenable substance,the end having an aperture therethrough, which includes introducing aplug into said aperture a suflicient distance to extend inwardly beyondthe lining, supporting the container in a vertical position with the endto be lined at the bottom, introducing a sufficient quantity of saidsubstance in plastic form into said container to provide a lining ofsubstantial thickness, rotating said container about a vertical axis ata speed determined by the consistency of said substance and the conicityof said end to distribute the substance over the concave surface of theend of the container to form a lining of substantially uniformthickness, continuing said rotation until the substance has received atleast an initial set, and removing said plug after the substancereceives an initial set to thereby provide an opening through saidlining in'alignment with said aperture.

4. That improvement in the art of lining the inner concave ends of acompletely closed container with a plastic hardenabie substance, eachend having an aperture therethrough, which includes closing saidapertures, supporting the container in a vertical position with the endto be lined at the bottom, introducing a suflicient quantity of saidsubstance in plastic form into said container to provide a lining ofsubstantial thickness, rotating said container about a vertical axis ata speed determined by the consistency of said substance and the conicityor said end to distribute the substance over the concave surface of theend of the container to form a lining of substantially uniformthickness, continuing said rotation until the substance has received aninitial set, and opening said aperture before the substance has receiveda permanent set to thereby provide an opening through said lining inalignment with said aperture, then reversing said container to positionthe other uncoated end to be lined at the bottom, and repeating theaforesaid steps to coat the said other end.

WELIMANEFORDI

